Characters experience of Dengfeng

From 65438 to 0986, Deng Feng graduated from Tsinghua University Electronic Engineering Department. As early as when he was an undergraduate, Deng Feng took a part-time job by providing scientific and technological advice.

1987, Deng Feng, who has started his postgraduate studies in Tsinghua, rented three rooms on campus and led a group of junior students to set up a laboratory to undertake various projects, such as computer photography. Soon he became famous and his business was getting better and better. Since 1990, Deng Feng has studied for a master's degree in computer engineering at the University of Southern California and an MBA at Wharton Business School. While studying, Deng Feng joined Intel as an engineer and lived a well-paid "golden collar" life. With the development of Internet, Deng Feng gradually realized that network security will be a big problem that will affect network application in the future. He began to discuss with his friends to set up a company specializing in network security products.

From 65438 to 0997, Deng Feng * * * co-founded Netscreen Technology Company, and served as the company's vice president of engineering, chief strategist and board member, making it one of the world's leading suppliers of network security equipment.

200 1, the screen is listed on Nasdaq.

In 2004, NetScreen was acquired by Juniper Networks for $4.2 billion.

From 2004 to 2005, Deng Feng served as the vice president in charge of corporate strategy of Zhanbo Company. He also won the American Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002 and the Innovator of the Year Award in 2003.

In 2005, he co-founded the Northern Lights Venture Capital Fund.

In 20 14, its investment project Innoway Technology was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Forbes 20 14 One of the best venture capitalists in China. He has two famous sayings. The first sentence: pride makes people progress; The second sentence: repetition makes people proud. The first famous saying tells the internal motivation of his legendary experience. The second sentence is the original source of his dazzling life. When he was a child, Deng Feng needed to move a lot. He went to the second grade three times. Because parents need to move frequently at work, Deng Feng's studies are difficult to guarantee. He has been in the second grade three times. Repetition often has a bad influence on students' psychology, but it has an opposite influence on Deng Feng, and his grades have always been among the best. Because of repeated reading, Deng Feng knew what the teacher taught long ago, and many students asked him for advice. In front of classmates, Deng Feng seems to be a little teacher, which makes Deng Feng's self-confidence gradually established. In order to keep his pride, Deng Feng studied harder, and the more he studied, the better.

With this pride, Deng Feng was finally admitted to Tsinghua University with excellent results. Some people even joked that Deng Feng's pride and brilliant experience began to sprout from his second grade repetition. As a successful entrepreneur and the founder of a $4 billion company, Deng Feng's legendary experience is dazzling. But what makes Deng Feng proud is not the creation of Netscreen, but his study experience in Tsinghua University. Deng Feng said that the best thing he did in his life was to study in Tsinghua. Tsinghua's student career had a great influence on Deng Feng's later career. It can be said that Deng Feng's exercise before starting a business, the choice of entrepreneurial fields and the formation of entrepreneurial teams are all related to this learning career. Since 1990, Deng Feng has studied for a master's degree in computer engineering at the University of Southern California and an MBA at Wharton Business School. But in the middle of his PhD, he "ran out" to join the chip giant Intel, became an engineer, and lived a well-paid "golden collar" life. At Intel, Deng Feng began to seriously study the management mode of big companies, and prepared for his excellent management on the screen in the future. Until later, Deng Feng recalled Intel's management model and still felt that he had benefited a lot. During his work at Intel, Deng Feng gradually realized that with the development of the Internet, the field of network security will develop rapidly, which contains huge business opportunities. He began to negotiate with friends to set up a company specializing in network security products.

In Silicon Valley, Deng Feng met Ke Yan, a classmate of Tsinghua University's roommate who was working at Cisco at that time. From 65438 to 0997, Deng Feng met his third partner Xie Qing while playing basketball. Three young people full of ideals got together and began to ponder the pattern of screen. At first, none of them quit their jobs, but they met once every Saturday, then twice a week, and then once every night in Deng Feng's garage. The garage in Silicon Valley seems to have a magic power, and many well-known companies started from here and developed rapidly. Jobs invented Apple computer in the garage, Bill Gates founded Microsoft in the garage, and Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David Ferrer used an office in the trailer of Stanford University, which was actually a small garage. 1997 In the spring, like the IT giants mentioned above, Deng Feng and others started businesses in their own garages. This also seems to indicate that they will achieve extraordinary success like Jobs and Gates. Starting a business is not easy. For these three young people from China, the only chance to survive is to introduce subversive technology. Cisco provides a successful model. As long as this idea can be realized technically, with the continuous development of the network security market, the hardware integrated firewall technology will surely achieve great success. With this dream in mind, three young people started a passionate entrepreneurial road in a simple garage.

Five months after the establishment of the company, under the guidance of angel investors, many venture capitalists, such as Sequoia Capital, which is famous for investing in Yahoo, officially invested in Netscreen in the middle of 1998. Since then, Deng Feng began to change from initial contact with angel investment to start talks with venture capital. One year later, Sequoia Capital made additional investment. This capital injection has accelerated the transformation of screen technology into products and put them on the market. In 2005, Deng Feng quietly returned to China with his wife and children and the "first bucket of gold" obtained in the United States, and started venture capital in the newly completed office building of Tsinghua Science and Technology Park. Deng Feng named the company "Northern Lights", which seems to indicate that Deng Feng will once again shine brilliantly in the sea of investment in China in the future.

It is not Deng Feng's "whim" that entrepreneurs become investors. When he was in the United States, Deng Feng was the president of Huayuan Science and Technology Association, and he has been committed to helping Chinese in the United States to start businesses successfully. As an angel investor, he also supported entrepreneurs in China. Before the establishment of Northern Lights, many individuals had investments. In 2005, Deng Feng organized the China-US IT Business Leaders Summit in the United States, attended by Zhang Chaoyang, Ma Yun, Ding Lei and Yang, which also contributed to Yahoo's strategic investment in Alibaba.

From June 2005 to October 2005, Deng Feng began to invest in Chinese mainland. It is the new identity of VC that makes Deng Feng known by more people in China, and Deng Feng's influence is gradually improving. Ke Yan, another founder of Netscreen and his old friend, started his business again with him. Northern Lights is positioned as a venture capital company with the concept of China, focusing on technology-driven business opportunities in the early and early growth stages. Focus on investing in enterprises with China strategy in TMT field (communication, new media and high technology), clean technology and medical and health field. In addition, we also pay attention to companies with innovative technology or business models in the mass consumer goods market.

In Deng Feng's eyes, the Northern Lights is his "second venture". While pursuing high returns, he should help small and medium-sized enterprises to become world-class large enterprises with the experience, lessons and ideas gained from his years of entrepreneurship, just like farmers farming. At the beginning of 2006, the first page of PPT document presented by Northern Lights to LPs contained three sentences: cultivating world-class China enterprises; Support world-class entrepreneurs in China; Become a first-class VC in China. It is with this idea that Deng Feng, who is pregnant with entrepreneurial genes, began to work in the venture capital market in China.

The investment speed of Northern Lights is not fast, but compared with venture capital in Silicon Valley, the pace of Northern Lights Investment Fund is not slow. So far, more than 80 cases have been invested, and the invested companies such as Spreadtrum Communications, Hanting and Zhuhai Torch Power have successfully listed on NASDAQ. Under the leadership of Deng Feng, Northern Lights Venture Capital invested in Derby Software, Lily Net (China Network Matchmaking Company), Touch Technology, Spreadtrum Communication (wireless communication ASIC developer) and Lianlian Technology (network service operator providing convenient payment services in Zhejiang). Deng Feng has always stressed that "Northern Lights not only hopes to get financial returns, but more importantly, it is to cultivate international entrepreneurs and world-class enterprises.

Excerpted from The Days We Live: A Portrait of China's Business Elite Yu Shenghai/Author's Years of Venture Capital: 9 years.

Total investment since engaging in venture capital industry: more than 500 million US dollars.

Representative projects: Spreadtrum Communications, Hanting Hotel, Unisys Integration, Innoway Technology, Zhongke Chuangda, Unlimited Communication, Kuwo, etc.

Investment viewpoint

In Deng Feng's view, investors will become more and more specialized. "When more and more funds are available and the drooping fruits are picked, the level of specialization becomes one of the important factors of competition." Deng said.

We have invested in some new materials, such as water treatment and sludge treatment, and energy storage technology. We don't think that the environmental protection enterprises we invest in must be driven by policies. For example, sludge treatment is absolutely in urgent need of environmental treatment. Of course, policies will lead the industry to develop faster, but the growth of enterprises does not depend entirely on policies.

There are several types of companies that we won't invest in: First, the assets are too heavy, and companies without distinctive innovations won't invest; Second, we don't invest in things we don't understand, such as infrastructure projects, aquaculture and planting, not because these fields are not good, but because we don't know how to do it; Third, if the founder has great moral hazard, we will not vote.

Third, the principle of non-voting

First, companies with too heavy assets do not invest in innovation without characteristics;

Second, don't vote if you don't understand;

Third, the founder has great moral hazard and does not vote.